We are labor, employment, and benefits/wealth management lawyers. We intend to provide you insightful commentary on labor, employment, and benefit issues that you worry about. To us, being aware is being prepared. We therefore will share “breaking” information on new and “on the horizon” laws, new “interpretations” of existing laws, and emerging legal trends and arguments. Added to that is practical, “Where do we go from here” advice. Welcome, Forbes readers, to our world of workplace analysis.

“Meet the Parents” to recruit the kid. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports a growing question from job-seeking “millennials”: “Can myparents attend my job interview?” Even, “can my parents negotiate my salary?” Sounds hard to believe but employers who have embraced such parental involvement are winning the war for talent, first by securing the “best and brightest” college graduates, and then by retaining them via continuous parental involvement—in “Take Your Parents to Work Days” and other parent-oriented events. This all may seem odd, even bizarre, to those of us of yore. Is someone who needs a babysitter really a good hire? Once hired, will he or she be able to make independent decisions? Evidently so, the article suggests. Millennials (those born between 1981 and the early 2000s) apparently have close, unprecedented types of parental relationships, having grown up and thrived under parents’ coddling, praise and encouragement. Millennials’ success can continue in the workforce, but it may hinge on continued close parental support, at least in the early stages.

To be sure, flexibility and a willingness to change an employer’s thinking come with the times, and any new method that may boost recruiting and retention deserves serious consideration. But involving parents has risks, too. Potential legal pitfalls abound. Below we discuss two, and also lend some ideas for how employers might have their cake and eat it too.

1. Potential Adverse Impact. One risk associated with involving mom and dad is perceived, or actual (though unintended), discriminatory outcomes. Older applicants/employees (hereinafter, “workers”)—who are protected by age discrimination laws—are less likely to have active, participating parents, much less any whom the worker would want at interviews or other job events. Similar factors occasion workers in historically disadvantaged groups—who are protected by race, national origin, and citizenship discrimination laws. Studies indicate that workers of certain races/national origins are less likely to have two parents, or to have one who has a higher education or a white-collar background. A college-educated worker may have less desire for such parents to participate. Similarly, those born abroad, where parents may still reside, will be less able to secure active parental participation, even if desired.

As employers know, giving any preference to some, which causes unintentional adverse impact on demographically protected others, is unlawful. Some states also proscribe discrimination based on family status. Given that workers who do not involve parents may come from legally protected groups, all employers who use, or plan to start using, a parent-friendly approach to recruitment/retention should take precautionary steps. New policies need crafting that specifically disclaim affording any preferential treatment based on parental involvement. In addition, recruiting staff and other managers must be trained to avoid any demographically adverse outcomes in their hiring and retention activities. Even just the perception of favoritism carries risk. The results of hiring and retention also warrant monitoring, regularly at first, and then annually—best if under the shield of attorney-client privilege.

Taking these steps can help employers avoid statistical imbalances in the first place, and also enable prompt correction of any that occur, before a complaint is made by an unsuccessful, disgruntled worker who alleges that a parent-friendly policy caused discriminatory impact.

2. Privacy Risks. Employers also should tread carefully when discussing workers’ personal information with their parents. State and federal privacy laws, as well as many employers’ own policies, limit the extent and nature of disclosure—even to parents. Workers’ medical information generally garners the highest form of privacy protection.

One way to protect against claims of over-disclosure is to require that advance authorizations be completed and signed by workers to specify what particular information may be shared with their parents. Where applicable law allows, the authorizations should also include waivers of all privacy-related claims. Such authorizations can be useful roadmaps for the managers who are navigating otherwise potentially uncomfortable parental conversations, such as those in which parents ask about sensitive information—as the manager can use the workers’ own signed authorization as an easy explanation for why certain information cannot be shared.

For more background on topic of this blog, check out The Wall Street Journal’s full article.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.